In the world of theatre this is the time of Pantomime – which has become a traditional form of entertainment.  One of the features of Pantomime – apart from the involvement of the audience in such classic parts as shouting:  ‘He’s behind you!2 and the role reversal of the principal boy, there is a common theme in the Pantomime plot of good pitted against bad and the good triumphing against all odds.  This theme operates on two levels – the human level: the poor hero against the wicked baron; the down-trodden girl against her wicked sisters; the young man against the big, bad giant and so on;  and the other level which surrounds it in the forms of the good and the wicked fairy.

Pantomime is a modern form of an age old legend which goes right back to primeval times of good pitted against bad. Legends and Fairy Stories (such as those which surround King Arthur) are part of this. Their popularity knows no bounds – look at the way people were captivated by the Lord of the Rings films which are very much part of this legend and even, in a different way, the Harry Potter phenomenon.

In Biblical times the fight between good and evil begins almost on page one with the story of Adam and Eve being beguiled by the serpent – an early manifestation of the contest between God and the devil which flows through the entire Bible.

Pantomime can be treated, as it is today, as good all-round family entertainment.  It could even be described as a kind of escapism – of wishful thinking – of wanting it to be true that good does triumph over evil despite all the evidence to the contrary in our modern world.  Which brings me to Christmas.

In a way, the Christmas story could be placed alongside Pantomime, Fairy Story, Myth and Legend.  Year by year we celebrate its magical quality of goodness and light bursting upon a darkened world and somehow, for a time, we are nicer to each other, greeting each other warmly, sending cards, giving presents, sharing meals, giving to the poor, longing for world peace and so on.  Much of what we wish for and long for at Christmas are things we long for all the time but somehow the tinsel we wrap around these wishes seems to lull us into thinking that it’s all come true. The world is somehow different.

I remember once watching a modern day performance of Aladdin on television.  The Genie duly appeared and Aladdin was granted a number of wishes which, in his inexperience, he wasted at first but the Pantomime ended with some moving dreams that came true. Goodness triumphed and the world seemed a better place.  I’m sure that if I now produced an Aladdin’s Lamp this morning we would be quick to say what we wished for and I wonder what those wishes might be.  Now I have no lamp and we have no genie so we can’t put it to the test. 

Well, perhaps we can – because what we do have is a crib and we do have a Christmas story – so perhaps we can look afresh at that and see if it will make any difference.  After all, we probably are gathered here because the Christmas story has weaved a magic around us.  We feel drawn to the Christ-child whom we celebrate in carols and prayers and who is central to our Christmas.  So let’s imagine that instead of Aladdin’s Lamp we can bring the crib alive and instead of a figure of the baby Jesus let’s address the real Christ.

What shall we ask Him? We are granted three wishes: 
Well, let the first be for World Peace – goodwill amongst men – not just for a time but for ever.
Secondly let’s ask for an end to sadness. Christmas, for many, is not a happy time. It’s a time when sad memories arise – loved ones no longer together, families separated by strife, even the concentration on family can be painful for some – those who have no family. Others will die of starvation today as they did yesterday and will tomorrow because we don’t share the good things of the earth. Many will have nowhere to lay their head. Then there are the dying and chronically sick. Making people better and have a better life. That would be a good wish.
And then, thirdly, because we are Christians – we could wish that everyone would come to know the Lord Jesus – to become, as we are, faithful believers and followers of the Christian way.

Wishes? Dreams? Wishful Thinking?  Well perhaps. We know that after Christmas much will be the same. The News will be full of violence, hatred and suffering. People will still be sad, in pain, bewildered, uncared for.  Will Christmas then make no difference at all? Is it like a Pantomime a brief escape from reality? An attempt to capture a lost goodness which we desperately long for but, being realistic, know it can never be.  That might be so but it needn’t be because it only takes one other wish to change things for ever. For such a wish to come true it needs our fullest involvement.

Instead of looking at the baby in the crib – take the crib into your heart and make this simple wish:  that Jesus (not the baby but the King of kings and Lord of lords) the Son of God – be born anew there. So your heart becomes the manger from which the love of Christ will radiate – and through you, change the world.  Not all of it, not all at once but bit by bit, with every tiny loving act.

You see, God chose to become human – to take our life with all its ups and downs, setbacks and trials and he chose to transform those lives from within.

God needs to use the raw material of our lives to change both us and the world – from within.  That’s what Incarnation says to us.  So we don’t sit here today like an audience at a Pantomime. We are centre stage in a human and divine drama who are there because of the Christmas story. It’s not a fairy story but a real story and its real because it’s ‘our’ story. God has made his home with human beings.

So as we make this story our own, we are changed and as we become like him, acted upon by his love until we become love, then we are signs of that love in the world today.  And in order to make this story our own  - to become the love we see at its heart then we need to cherish the Christ within us and hold him in our hearts as surely as Mary held him in her arms.  And we need to look at him.

When the Shepherds were drawn to the manger through the magic of angels dancing before them, they were changed by looking at Jesus. St. Luke tells us that that they returned to their fields glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.  Those Shepherds were the first witnesses to the Christian faith. Looking on Christ and the love which radiated from him they could not be silent. They had to shout the Good News from the rooftops.  They were the first Christian converts and they were converted by looking into the face of Jesus.

There is a legend from the time of the infancy of Jesus which says that, in Nazareth, whenever there was trouble or a time of struggle the people would say, ‘Let us go and look at Mary’s child.’  That’s what we’ve come to do today – and in our looking we can make our one wish that we can be sure will come true – that in looking at him we can take him into our heart so that he reigns there and changes us by love.  For in changing us – in deepening our love for God – in seeking to take that love to others we will already have changed the world.  That isn’t wishful thinking after all – it’s actually faith.  You need only believe it for it to happen. That’s the magic of God and it’s for real.

So let this be our Christmas prayer:

Lord, change the world, beginning with me.

Amen.